Amazon’s LoveFilm revamps its rental lists with a cleaner design, easier management and more

Amazon-owned LoveFilm has revamped the area of its website where users choose which DVDs and video games they would like mailed to them, introducing a much cleaner design and also making it easier to switch between disc formats and move rentals to a different list.

LoveFilm started as a rental service for physical discs, but has since launched a streaming service called LoveFilm Instant which now competes with Netflix in the UK.

Last March, the company rolled out a number of changes to the rental list for a select number of users. Following feedback, LoveFilm has made some final tweaks and now updated the area of the website – almost a year later mind – for all of its users.

A simpler design

The most notable difference is that everything looks much simpler and cleaner. The amount of space given to each title has been increased, and the simple use of grey and white to show what has been selected is a vast improvement from before.

LoveFilm tried a new priority system during its user testing, but this has been scrapped in favor of the original color scheme. Users are still recommended, therefore, to choose a large number of films, TV shows or games and rank them depending on how badly they want to play or watch them.

Red dictates a high priority, yellow is medium and green is a low priority. The entire concept feels a little outdated compared to the instant and absolute choice offered on LoveFilm Instant, but it’s definitely better than the high and normal priority scheme trialed last year.

Changing formats and lists

Changing the disc format can be a little painful on LoveFilm, but the company has gone to great lengths to try to make this clearer and more accessible. A drop-down arrow has now been added to the list, allowing users to change the format without ever leaving the webpage. That’s a first, and should speed up quickly swapping out a Blu-ray for a DVD, for example.

LoveFilm offers a multiple list service to help families, couples or any groups of users really who share an account to manage what they would like to rent next. The updated rental list means that titles can now be moved between lists with a single click, which is a marked improvement over the clunky drop-down menu from before.

The rental and streaming service has also increased the maximum number of titles that can be viewed at any one time to 200. Perfect for users who like to create seriously long rental lists.

A consistent experience

Last November, LoveFilm overhauled the search and discovery features on its website, improving the masthead at the top of the screen and making it possible to navigate between same-season episodes, or between seasons, from a single page.

Two weeks later, the company rolled out a new Watchlist feature on its website, to help users find and save titles from its Instant streaming service to watch later.

The company appears to be going to great lengths, therefore, to create a better and more consistent user experience on the web. From what we’ve seen so far, they’re certainly succeeding.